Title doesn't really describe the situation. Here goes: I was born in St. Paul, MN, and moved to Canada when I was 3 weeks old (my father was taking his MBA there). I have lived in Canada ever since. I have never worked in the USA. I haven't even been across the border in over a decade. I do have dual citizenship.
Yesterday, on TV and the Globe and Mail, there was a story about the US gov't cracking down on Americans living abroad who have not filed income tax returns. This is me, exactly. I have filed Canadian ones, but it never occurred to me to file American ones. My sister is in the same boat - she was also born there and was 3 when we moved to Canada. Her DH was born in Canada, to an American father, so he has an American passport and dual citizenship. Neither my sister or her DH have filed American returns. Anyway, the story said that there is an amnesty, if you file your returns before Aug. 31, there is a reduced penalty (5 to 25% of your assets ), and if you wait until after the deadline, the penalty is higher. I do not have a Social Security Number, heck, I don't even have an American passport. I am so beyond freaking out right now that I can't even put it into words. What am I going to do?! My sister is looking into all of this (she has an accountant) and is going to let me know what steps we need to take.
I feel sick about this. There is absolutely no way in the world I can come up with even 5% of my assets if I had to fork it over.
Ugh. Maybe this is just a b*tch, but if anyone has any info on this, I would be eternally grateful.
Freaking out.